Vocabulary for Reading Macbeth

Question 1

Simile

Answer 1

A comparison using like or as

Question 2

Metaphor

Answer 2

An implied comparison between two seemingly unlike things for literary effect

Question 3

Personification

Answer 3

Giving inanimate objects living qualities

Question 4

Imagery

Answer 4

Words and phrases that create a clear picture in the reader’s mind; draws on the senses

Question 5

Blank verse

Answer 5

Unrhymed lines that have a pattern of unstressed/stressed syllables; 5 feet/line with two syllables in each poetic foot (Da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM)

Question 6

Iambic pentameter

Answer 6

Rhymed lines that have a pattern of unstressed/stressed syllables; 5 feet/line with two syllables in each poetic foot (Da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM)

Question 7

Tetrameter

Answer 7

A line of poetry with a four beat rhythm (DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da)

Question 8

Prose

Answer 8

Everyday language with no specific rhyme, metric scheme, or rhythm

Question 9

Caesura

Answer 9

The phrasing of a line to broken to create a pause or a break in the dialogue or action (“To be or not to be – that is the question…”. From the Latin “cutting off”

Question 10

Enjambment

Answer 10

The end of one line of poetry carries onto the next line (the effect is a ‘spilling over’ and building from one line to the next

Question 11

Antithesis

Answer 11

The opposition of words, ideas, or phrases against each other. It sets these ideas, words & phrases against each other. “Fair is foul, and foul is fair”

Question 12

Alliteration

Answer 12

The repetition of initial consonant sounds. “Fair is foul, and foul is fair / Hover through the fog and filthy air” - the repetition of the f sound

Question 13

Assonance

Answer 13

The repetition of vowel sounds in the middle of words. “Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine / And thrice again to make up nine” - the repetition of the i sound.

Question 14

Anaphora

Answer 14

The repetition of the same work at the beginning of successive sentences

Question 15

Soliloquy

Answer 15

A monologue (usually an internal debate) that a character presents while alone on stage

Question 16

Aside

Answer 16

A brief comment to the audience that show the character’s unspoken thoughts, unheard by other characters on the stage

Question 17

Dramatic Irony

Answer 17

When the reader or audience knows more than a character

Question 18

Idiom

Answer 18

A phrase that is common in a language or culture that means something different from how it literally sounds

Question 19

Allusion

Answer 19

Reference to another literary work (or historical event)

Question 20

The Fourth Wall

Answer 20

A performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this “wall”, the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot

Question 21

The Globe Theater

Answer 21

The famous London theater where Shakespeare’s works were (and are still) performed.